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Wreaths by the Side of the Road

A few weeks ago, I went to a Halloween party. It was fun. It was sedate. The usual suspects. Some friends and some people I hardly knew or didn't know at all. We had some food and drinks. Stood around the fire. Chatted with some people about this and that. We had fun. We got tired. We left early.

Last week there was a terrible car accident on my sister's road. It's a bit of a dark and windy road. It has way more traffic than where I'd choose to live. She was shook up in telling me about seeing and hearing the accident especially once she knew that someone died in it.

It turns out, the guy that died, was one of the people standing around the fire at the party. I never even got his name at the party. I heard him talking about politics and listened with mild interest. He seemed to also know a lot about military history and I recall a vague discussion of digital camoflage and how it doesn't show up (or does it?) on radar screens. He wore these weird shoes that almost looked like socks in the sense that they outlined his toes. I remember that.

And he died.

I was curious so I read the story on the accident. I read his obituary. I found his Facebook. It's really nearly amazing that I even pieced together that this was the same guy, so I had to find out more. I just couldn't stop myself.

So, it turns out he was very politically astute. He was 25. His name was James. He liked Tetris and had a girlfriend in Texas. I wonder if he was missing her when he was at the party alone that night? He also played Mafia Wars on FB and was attending a local community college. I wonder what he was pursuing in his studies?

And that's the best I can tell you about him. He's gone now.

There was no fault and no charges in his accident. There was no use of alcohol or substance by either party. The paper said he didn't run his stop sign, but maybe he just didn't pull out with enough time for the woman driving the truck to miss him. My sister said he was delivering pizzas and got turned around all wrong and was trying to find his way back to the correct address.

Was he delivering a pizza? Was he tired? Did he have things on his mind?

Did his friends call him James? Or maybe Jamie? Or Jim? I don't even know how the people at the party knew him.

I won't ever know.

I feel bad for his family. It will be so hard to pick up and move on with the loss of someone so young. He was a son and a brother and and uncle......according to the paper.

I also feel bad for the woman driving the truck. She wasn't at fault, but she will have to go on knowing that her truck hit a man in his car. And he died. I hope she can find her own peace and solace in time. It will be hard for her.

It's so ironic that just yesterday that my dad was telling me that you're not promised tomorrow. That is biblical. It's also a cold, hard fact in the kind of lives we all live today. I can't help but stop and reflect on this as I think about a guy that died that I didn't know at all but stood only inches from around a fire only weeks ago.

Rest in peace, James. And peace to your family and friends.....
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